Friday, November 25, 2005

So it's been maybe three days or so since I installed SUSE Linux on an old Windows 98 box I had lying around and so far I've...

1) Reconnected and mounted my old hard drive with all my old music data on it

2) Learned that I can't write to my external USB/Firewire drive because it's an NTFS disk and linux won't write to NTFS because it might wreck it

3) By randomly clicking on things, I've set up the linux box as a Samba server and gotten Windows XP home to recognize it as a network drive and so I've copied over all the data from the old hard disk to the external drive (connected to the XP box). Now I can put all my mp3s on the hard disk in the linux box.

4) Set up SHOUTcast server running on the linux box so that, within my home LAN, I can listen to streaming mp3s ("Radio Free Victor" is finally a reality).

We've had a Windows 98SE machine sitting around for over two years now, literally collecting dust. The OS was completely hosed (it seemed to pick at random the screen resolution at which it'd boot, it would recognize any of my external drives, and even though the Ethernet NIC is good -- I know this because I booted it once with Knoppix, wouldn't recognize any sort of networking protocol under Windows.

So I'm installing SUSE Linux v10 from Novell. So far it's been going very smoothly. I disconnected the power from the additional drive I had in the box, just to be safe, though (even though you can set which disk it writes to, I didn't want to take any chances with my old song data). Anyway, fun stuff. I'm finally entering the 1970s.

Update: Okay, so SUSE is done installing and now it's downloading updates off the net. Already I love it. I can't believe I waited this long to download and install it and get some use out of this box (future video and music server/'Xander's sandbox, perhaps?). I can now hear in my head Denis' voice saying "Argh! I told you you were stupid. I kill you!"

Sunday, November 20, 2005

Probably the most bald-faced and cowardly display of religious persecution in recent memory. The fact that it's being undertaken by an allegedly "catholic" high school against a Catholic student just makes it that much more scandalous.

My dance hit about the whole systemic problem is on its way. Music's 'bout done, just need some more words. It may be some more weeks, though, because this one is like over five minutes long.

Thursday, November 17, 2005

We love Target, don't get me wrong. On our salary, undercut as it is by unrealistically high income taxes and the bottom dropping out of our country's manufacturing base thanks to our ungodly trade deficit, it's the only way we can afford imported and cheaply-made home furnishings and plastic doo-dads.

But I also likes it when people say "Merry Christmas" to me (the one nice thing, and I guess there may be others, about America moving towards recognizing Spanish as an official language and having to have all the signs and packaging labeled in both languages is that I have yet to see "Happy Holidays" rendered in that language), so I signed this petitiion. Since I value living, I'm not going anywhere near a Target or anything else retail that weekend anyway.

I never ceases to amaze me how the web works. For some reason, just in the last two months, these four songs have become more popular (around 200-300 downloads a month each so far in October and November). What's odd is that these songs were never particularly popular when I first uploaded them (especially "Sing Me", which is probably deeper than anyone realizes). Who knows why people are listening to them now.

Thursday, November 10, 2005

I mean really, really, really hates Christmas. And by extension, if this is true, Walmart hates Christians. So by extension, again if this is true at all, Walmart hates me and my entire family, so Walmart gets none of our money this year. It all goes to Costco. Sorry, rapin' corporate heirs of Sam Walton, but it is indeed a wide, wide world and if we want to widen our country's trade gap by buying cheap, imported Chinese goods, there is no end to the places from which we may purchase said goods.

Of course, the impact of their email is somewhat lessened by the fact that the Christmas colors are not red and white (those just the colors we wacky fundamentalists put on the candycanes so they remind us of hallucinogenic mushrooms) and I could go on but I just emailed Dan Fogleman and feel better now.

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

My esteem for Patrick Warburton (video) has grown even above it's already very high levels. The only way it could grow from here is if he somehow wound up playing Ash's brother in an Evil Dead sequel.

Robert Davi also supported it. He was a great Jen'ai Commander in Stargate: Atlantis last season. I haven't played it, but I would imagine he was good in GTA: VC, too.

Anyway, check out the Proposition 73 page for some truly horrifying information (especially those calls where abortion "counselors" "counsel" 13-year-olds into covering up statutory rape). If you wonder why we're all so screwed, that's a big part of the reason why.

If you could find some way to bottle Stevie's MiniMoog bass sound in "So What The Fuss?" and sell it, you would make a FORTUNE. That track is like a master class in the tastiest synth bass, ever (sorry, Bernie).

Anyway, the whole new album is very good (kind of a weird meld of "Conversation Peace" and "Talking Book") and I'll have more to say on it soon.